Pet food-maker Pedigree has told a dog owner the claims it makes in TV ads are "mere puffery", after he lodged a complaint that a "long lasting" chewy treat was scoffed in seconds by his hungry hounds.

The dog owner received the response after lodging an unsuccessful complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority about a Pedigree TV ad featuring a small, feisty dog that just could not munch its way through a chewy treat.

In the TV ad, which claims that the Pedigree Jumbone is the "long-lasting chewy treat", the small dog was shown giving up after failing to polish off the treat.

The ASA received a complaint that the claim was not true, with the owner claiming his dogs had taken "under one minute" to eat the product.

In its response to the ASA manufacturer Pedigree said the man should not have believed the claim of the "light hearted" ad as it was "mere puffery". In Pedigree's view "long lasting" meant "several minutes".

The ASA weighed the evidence and agreed with Pedigree that on average chewy dog treats lasted about "3 minutes and 21 seconds". In comparison to softer treats that was, therefore, considered to be long lasting. The ASA therefore dismissed the complaint.

Animal lovers claimed the ad, one of the top 20 most complained-about of all time, condoned animal cruelty. The ASA rejected the complaints.

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook